Relatively non-invasive medical procedures are routinely performed on patients throughout the United States and the world. Many such procedures utilize a device including an elongate shaft. The elongate shaft may be inserted into a body cavity in order to navigate to a remote location within the body. Often the medical device is inserted into a natural body orifice, such as the nose, mouth, anus, bladder or vagina. In some procedures, a small surgical incision may be created at a convenient location in the skin of the patient where the elongate shaft of the device may be inserted into the body. Once the medical device is inserted into a body, an operator may then maneuver the medical device within the body to a remote location.
Once positioned in a body, additional medical devices may be advanced through the elongate shaft in order to reach a remote location in the body for performing a medical procedure. Often, it is necessary or useful to control and operate such medical devices simultaneously and/or consecutively during a procedure.
For example, an endoscopic procedure, such as gastroscopy, sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy, may be performed with a flexible elongate shaft called an endoscope. The endoscope may be passed through a body cavity to a target location. Once at the target location, additional medical devices such as catheters, snares, forceps, cytology brushes, cautery probes, and the like, may be passed through the endoscope. Often, multiple devices may be operated within the endoscope during a single medical procedure.
There is an ongoing need to provide a way for an operator to simultaneously and/or consecutively control and operate multiple devices during a medical procedure.